The Protection We Need: Decentralised and Local Sourcing of Medical Supplies

April 9 2020

At a glance:

Demand for medical equipment is already high. But if productive output continues to lag behind the speed at which the pandemic accelerates we will be left with serious shortages of essential equipment. Time is of the essence. The scale and speed required for the production and distribution of these items is unprecedented, and will rely on significant cooperation between medical facilities, manufacturers and designers.

To make sure we can meet this demand, we suggest a central logistics platform – Medisyn – to connect hospitals and medical facilities with manufacturers, small fabrication hubs and designers.

Many manufacturers in the UK are already repurposing their plants to produce essential medical items. These initiatives are both useful and laudable, but are happening independently and separately as opposed to collectively and collaboratively.

Through this proposed central logistics system – which we’re calling Medisyn – hospitals, care homes and pharmacies can easily place orders for items they are running low on.